Hiking, Gaming and Nar

Half my day was spent hanging with my friend Heather and the other half was playing Lord of the Rings with my bestie Chris.

Heather, who is visiting from Arizona is someone I met because of The Guild. We were both fans and we both worked on it, me doing BTS, extra and podcasts and she being an extra. We became Facebook and Twitter friends and would see each other from time to time at Cons. This was going to be the first time we actually got to hang out one on one and spend some time together.

I planned to take her to Vasquez Rocks and go hiking, she's really into fitness stuff so I figured she's never been and it's a great place to get a good workout. We actually did a nice steady hike before attacking the iconic peak of Vasquez Rocks. I went all the way to the peak and Heather went about 2/3'ds the way up. It was a really fun two hours of hiking and climbing. We talked about everything. I really got to know Heather alot better then just a few words here and there on social media.

One surprise for me was running into my friend Nar Williams on the peak of Vasquez Rocks. I appeared on an episode of his webseries Fanboy Funhouse years ago, to promote Knights of the Guild. Nar has hosted many shows on the web and TV (Science of the Movies was my favorite). I haven't seen him in a few years but he was coming down the hill as I was going up and he stopped and yelled out " I know you!!! " It was great seeing him. We chatted for about ten minutes, catching up on each others lives before going our separate ways. What's really great about Nar is I am a huge fan of his. I actually only met him one time (while on his show). Though we have talked from time to time on social media.. but still the fact that he remembers me after a few years was pretty awesome.

After hiking we went out to Chipotles for some lunch before calling it a day and saying out goodbye. It was a very nice visit.

Afterwards I jumped online and hooked up with my buddy Chris next. We haven't been able to play LOTRO together for over a month. He's been busy with studying/work promotion test. This was the first time in ages that we were going to play together. We spent the next five hours (non-stop) questing, killing orcs and having a great time. It was a nice way to end my Saturday.

A Nice End To My Week

So with my new routine in place I started my day once again by looking for a new job (nothing yet). I then finished my MASH podcast, there wasn't much left to do other then upload the file and create the show notes. I then moved onto to working on things for the webseries. Preparing for a webseries is a lot of prep work and we really haven't even gotten into it yet. The writing is coming along, I should be sitting down with Chris this weekend and working on some key scenes with him.

Wootstock tickets went on sale today. Now I went to Wootstock last year and enjoyed it but it's not something I have to go to every year like it is for most of my friends. Plus the $50 ticket price is just to rich for my blood, but several of my friends Olivia and Chris were at work and couldn't get tickets so I purchased several seats for them, but getting to that point was an choir as I was texting both and both were super busy and weren't getting back to me fast enough that seats I had selected were being bought out from under me. In the end it all worked out and I got them their seats right next to each other.. so all is well.

Did a little bit more webseries stuff before taking a break for lunch and headed out to El Pollo Loco, on my way back I decided to go for a hike at Vasquez Rocks and spent the next hour roaming around that park.. it was quiet and peaceful. I sat on a peak for about 20 minutes just lost in my thoughts.

Got back home and watched a bit of TV that I recorded.. I'm still very behind in my TV watching.

I then played a few hours of Lord of the Rings Online and ended my night joining my friends in a Google Hangout. I came in a few hours after it had started around 8pm. But it lasted until midnight when it was just Chris and I. They are also alot of fun. While I was there in the chat was Aaron, Kim, Robert, Doug, Kevin, Chris and Chris' Pac Man game. It was a nice way to end the week.

Getting Into A Routine

So this has become my new routine and I think I like it. Today I started my day by taking a half hour and looking for a new job, I then worked on editing a podcast (MASH 4077), Writing/Working on my webseries and playing Lord of the Rings Online the rest of the day. What is different then other days is I did each of these things all day long. So after looking for work, I started editing my MASH 4077 podcast for about an hour then stopped, then I worked on my webseries for an hour or so and stopped. Played a few hours of LOTRO and stopped and then started working on the podcast again and so on. Every few hours I would stop what I was doing and move on to something else.

It really kept me busy all day and I never got to overwhelmed or bored with one thing. I think this how I will do things from here on out. Instead of working on my podcasts for six or seven hours straight and being burnt out by the end so that I don't don't another one I'll take my time through out the day to finish it. Same goes with writing my webseries. I'll get writers block and instead of getting frustrated and write something horrible I'll just stop and move to something else and then in a few hours come back to it fresh and new.

I don't know why I never thought about doing this before.. would have saved me a lot of wasted time.

LOTRO, Podcasts, Webseries & Buffy

Started my morning with a few hours of LOTRO play. Then switched gears and figured I'd get a head start on editing the next episode of my MASH 4077 podcast. I mean it is due to be released on April 1st. Spent about an hour stringing out the three hosts audio, I got everything synced and ready to go. I went to check the audio from the actual episode and realized something was wrong and I spent the next three or so hours trying to figure out why the conversions were not working. It was very frustrating but in the end I manage to get at least one episode (the one I needed) to work but by that time I didn't feel like editing the podcast anymore so I pushed it off.. I hope to finish it off tomorrow.

I worked once again on my new webseries. Now that it's been announced I feel obligated to get it written sooner then later. I don't feel rushed, just enough pressure to get it done. I'm also working on setting up a photo shoot for the main characters and getting the logo created. I think once the logo is created and we reveal the name of the show will also reveal the story and the actors. I'm looking forward to getting all this info out there... stay tuned.

My evening was once again spent with one of my best buds... Robert. We had some pizza and wings and continued my Buffy rewatch and his 1st time viewing. We are in my middle of season four.. first for the night was "Goodbye Iowa", it was an okay episode.. not my favorite. Next we watched "This Years Girl", this was the return of Faith and I completely forgot about this episode. I wasn't happy as I was never a big Faith fan and I was hoping that her story was over. And of course the ending when those two switch bodies it all came back to me on what the next episode was going to be about and I really wasn't happy. That leads us to "Who Are You", and I have to say it was better then I remembered. I was really worried about it but in the end it was a very well done episode. Our final episode of the evening was "Superstar". I think this was Robert's favorite of the night. This episode had us laughing out loud and was the perfect way to end our Buffy viewing for the evening. A few more viewings and we will be done with Season 4 and move onto Season Five where everything changes. It also has my favorite big bad "Glory"... cant' wait.

Gaming, Yard Work & WebSeries

Today started with a bit of job search, unfortunately there isn't much out there for my line of work. I'll continue my search tomorrow.

After the job search I played LOTRO for a few hours, not doing much questing just building up my bank account. I've been joining various fellowships and battling with them. This way we all benefit with extra XP and loot.

After lunch I decided to go outside and clean up. The past few weeks we've had some pretty gusty winds and things have been blown around. Alot of debris, mostly trash has been blown onto my property. I also had a bag of aluminum cans that the crows ripped open and were also blown all over the place. So I spent a half hour or so walking around my property cleaning up. I spent another hour pulling weeds. Since we got all that rain and snow the weeds are going to be bad this season. Figured I'd get a head start on removing them.

Spent another few hours writing for my webseries. It's funny how some dialogue just flows out of me and other stuff I just struggle with. I've wrote a bit for episode 103, 104 and 105. First draft for 103 is done, I hope to get 104 or 105 done by the end of the week.

I watched some TV and played a bit more LOTRO before calling it a night.

My Secret Project

I have posted about this "secret project" since July of 2012 and it kind of lost some steam the past few months but it's back and going full force. This secret was only known to a select group of people who will be participating in it. But now you all will know, well kind of. I'm not going to into great details.. yet. But I am announcing that my secret project is ::drum roll please::  my very own webseries. Not only am I co-writing it but I'm also going to be acting in it (I'm one of the leads), how scary is that thought.

It all started when Chris and I were in the back seat of Jes' car as we drove up to San Diego Comic Con last year (2012). We were talking and all of a sudden this thought came to me and I told Chris about it and you could see the light bulb go off and for the next few hours we worked out the concept, the characters, some of the storyline, everything just flowed... it was awesome.

From July 2012 to December 2012 Chris and I have skyped, texted, facebooked and actually talked on the phone about this project.

Chris and I come up with the idea/storyline and then I take a crack at writing the dialogue, Chris will then read it and give notes and make changes until both of us are happy. We opened episode one script to several of our close friends for their input, but that was a mistake. I was not prepared for those who read it to pick apart my writing/story.  It took a good week or so to recover and I have to say that I'm not upset with those you criticized my work, it actually made me a better writer.

When I was done with the script for episode 1 I sent it to my buddy Sean Becker (Director of The Guild and many other things). After he read it we talked for an hour and he gave me a ton of notes. Some I agreed with, some I never even thought of and some I totally disagreed with. What was great about Sean is that he said take the notes or don't take the notes. This is yours and Chris' project, you guys "own" it. It's your vision.

After that I was fine with hearing what others had to say. I knew that Chris and I were writing it. Others could suggests things and if we like them we could implement them, but if we didn't, no harm done.

We have the entire season planned out (I won't say how many episodes just in case it changes). We have first drafts scripts for episodes 101, 102, & 103. First drafts of episode 104 and 105 are close to being finished and the rest are at the outline stage.

We hope to have all the episodes written by SDCC this year. So that leaves us roughly four months. Don't have any idea of when we were shoot it or when it will be released. The group of people that I'm doing this with are all Guildies. We've all been extras and want to take a crack at making our own series.

I think for me it's more about the process, it's writing it with my best friend, it's planning things out with people who mean the world to me. None of us are taking it super serious. It's more about a group of friends coming together and making something that we would watch. Will it be good.. who know, I hope so but truly all that matters is that we have a great time making it.. that's what is important to me.

I'll be posting more about it as time passes.. we have a twitter account but I can't announce it until we announce the show title and concept.. which will be soon... stay tuned!!!

Job Hunt, Fun Lunch & Comic Book Men

Today I official start looking for a new job. I took two weeks off (well really a week and a half) to recoup. I'll hit my usual job sites and start getting word out that I'm looking. Hopefully something will pop up in the next few weeks. I applied for unemployment but have yet heard if I'm going to get it or not.

Met up with my friend America at CPK (California Pizza Kitchen). I don't get to see America as much as I would like but the times we do get together are fantastic and this one was no different. I was finally able to give her, her half of the case of Smarties that my buddy Steve sent from Canada. We sat in the restaurant and chatted for about 2 1/2 hours. One of many great thing about America is that she and I can talk about anything. We talked geeks, we talked personal, we talked about life in general. I told her about my "coming" out story. It was a great visit. We said our goodbyes and made tentative plans to get together next week or lunch as well.. can't wait.

After lunch I headed over to Barnes and Noble to see if I could find the Willow sequel novels "The Chronicles of the Shadow Wars" but no luck,  I think I'll have to buy them online. Afterwards I drove over to Micheal's art supply store to look for buttons for me two vests that I have for me Hobbit cos-play, alas no luck, but I haven't given up hope yet.

When I got home I watched a bit of TV from my DVR. One show that I enjoyed last year is "Comic Book Men" Here's a brief synopsis: Comic Book Men is an American reality television series airing on the AMC network. It is set at Kevin Smith's comic book shop, Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash, in Red Bank, New Jersey. There are three guys who work there Walt, Mike and Ming and another guy who just hangs out Brian. The show is basically these four guys talking geek, people bring in things to sell, they do certain events for the store. Kevin Smith shows up here and there. Inter cut with the episode are the live recording of the companion podcast they do for the show. It's a really fun show, the guys are entertaining and they speak to the geek in me. The first season ran 6 one hour episodes.. but for season two they got 16 half hour episodes. Anyways I watched about 3 hours worth of episodes. 

I ended my day with some LOTRO play. All I'm doing is really building my bank with gold, silver and copper. Haven't really done much questing the past few days. I did find out that if you go to the Barrow Downs and join a fellowship in one of the caves you can really rack up some $$.

Podcasting, Friends & Once

Today I got up, played an hour or so of LOTRO and watched some recorded TV off my DVR. My friend Aaron came over and we hung out for an hour or so before Rupert and Robert joined Aaron as they went off to play paintball (which is near my place, hence why the met up here). I was suppose to go but I had to record several episodes of my MASH 4077 Podcast. So at 12:30 I jumped on skype with my buddies/co-hosts Al and Meds. For the next few hours we recorded six episodes of our MASH 4077 Podcast... it was a lot of fun.

When I was done I could have gone to paintball for an hour but instead I decided to watch a bit more recorded TV (I'm so far behind on my shows). The guys got back around 5ish and we headed out to dinner. We went to Islands as we haven't been there in a while. It was great hanging with the guys, we had some good food, great laughs and fantastic company.

When we got home Aaron had to take off (he lives down in San Diego), but Robert and Rupert decided to stay and watch a movie. We opted for one that we all saw but loved, Wreak-it-Ralph. Such a well animated, well acted and well told story. That was finished around 8:30pm and the guys said their goodbyes and headed home (only to realized when they got to Robert's place (an hour away), Rupert had left his keys at my house and they had to drive all the way back here, felt really bad for Robert.)

After those guys left I got onto Facebook chat with my bestie Chris and we watched the latest two episodes of Once Upon A Time. Since we can't be in the same room to watch, this is the next best thing. Once Upon A Time continues to impress me. These last two episodes were amazing, so much stuff is happening. I can't wait to see how they are going to end this season, if it's anything like season one we are in for a real adventure.

Spent the last hour of the day playing some LOTRO, I can't wait until Chris is done with his promotion studying so he can start playing again. We haven't played together since mid February.

Cos-play Prepping & St. Paddy Day Party

Today I went through my Hobbit cosplay items. Wondercon is coming up in a few weeks and I needed to make sure I had everything. This year I have been collecting various accessories for my Hobbit outfit. I didn't want to be the same Hobbit as I was the previous two years. So I purchased a LOTR Gold One Ring, a silver chain to hang it from, a toy version of Sting (figured the cons wouldn't let me bring in a real sword). I got a new shirt and vest. Still in search for a pipe and sword sheath. Keeping my pants (as I put a lot a work into making those) and my cape (it's still in great shape). I also ordered some more ears. Still no 100% happy with the ones I ordered (I used them last year as well) but they are the closest thing I have at the moment. I washed my Hobbit wig (it's real hair) and brushed it out.. well that was a mistake (see picture). So I re-wet it and let it dry naturally. All I have to do is curl it up a bit (now that I own a curling iron) and it will be good to go. I'm still using my same feet that Greg Aronowitz made for me a few years ago. I never expected them to last this long but they are doing pretty good. I am going to be asking Greg is make me a new pair for SDCC this year as I don't think they will last much longer.

So I spent the morning prepping my Hobbit stuff and I also did some things around the house (like laundry). Afterwards I jumped on the computer and played a little LOTRO before I headed out for a St. Patrick's Day party.

My buddy Will puts on these EPIC St.Paddy's Day parties every year, and for various reasons I'm not able to go. But this year I made sure I blocked out the date months in advance so I could go. I got there around 8pm and was one of the first to arrive. I debated on drinking as if I did drink I will no drive so that meant I would have to crash at his place. Normally I wouldn't have minded but I had some podcasts to record the next morning and I didn't want to miss it or feel like crap while recording so I opted not to drink. In hindsight I think that was a bad idea. Now I'm not saying that I didn't have fun but I think if I would have had a few shots I'd have had a much better time.

I'm not good at parties, especially with folks I don't know. Wills' friends are all nice but I knew about 6 of the 40 people there. And I don't work well in large groups. I pretty much talked to the few friends I knew and pretty much sat in the corner all night. Watching some of my friends get drunker and drunker as the night progressed was fun but I did miss not participating with them. I left the party just after midnight but I heard it went on for several hours afterwards.

Leveling Up

Spent the day leveling up my Lord of the Rings Online characters. As I have mentioned in previous blog posts I have four characters that I am currently playing on LOTRO. My main one Drialdo is my Hobbit, he was at level 35 and now is 36, my female human Kiwyn was 25 and is now 26, my male Elf, Gillthalion was 20 and is now 21 but my biggest leveling was my Dwarf Arikk, he was level 16 and I was determined to get him to at least level 20 so I could buy a stead and travel alot faster around Middle Earth. By the end of the day I did manage to get him to level 20 and he's now the proud owner of a little dark brown pony named Daper (he came with that name and I liked it, so it's staying).

Sometimes the gaming bug gets me and regardless of what my plans are for the day I am a slave to the game... and you know what.. I'm cool with that :)

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 50

Download from itunes tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes , listen on Stitcher Radio ow.ly/iZJIz or Listen, get direct download from our main website MASH4077Podcast.com

Show Notes

Kenny Mittleider from Knights of the Guild, Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast & Confessions of a Fanboy Podcast, Simon Meddings from Waffle On Podcast, & Al Kessel from Tales from the Mouse House, Fast Forward & Just Because Podcast discuss one of the most successful and longest running television series in history.. M*A*S*H

Today we cover Season 3, Episode #2 - Rainbow Bridge
50th Episode Overall
Directed by Hy Averback
Written by Larry Gelbart & Laurence Marks
Production code B301
Original air date September 17, 1974

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary: April–May 1953: China has made an offer to return a handful of prisoners of war too wounded for their own medical facilities. After some debate about the Chinese motives, Hawkeye, Trapper, Frank, Radar and Klinger take a bus deep into North Korea to an agreed-upon meeting place called "Rainbow Bridge" to receive the prisoners, but Major Burns decides to bring a gun in violation of the agreement. Tensions are defused when the gun is only about as big as a cigarette lighter.

Podcasts and Gaming

My struggle continues between working on my podcasts and playing LOTRO game. Today podcasting won out for the most part. I'm trying to release two or even three (I know that's crazy) episodes of my Knights of the Guild podcast a month. So far I've barely managed to get one episode done a month. I have a ton of season six interviews that I have to go through and organize so of course it takes me a lot longer to edit these podcasts. But I am determined to get at least one episode done before I allowed myself to start playing LOTRO.


And that's exactly what I did. Took me about four hours but I got the next KOTG episode edited, sweetened, converted, uploaded, show note written and released. Afterwards I was in my podcasting mode so I actually spent another few hours doing podcasting maintenance.

As you all know I'm been kind of slacking with all my podcasts as of recent. So I decided to make this awesome new excel spreadsheet that lists all my podcasts, how I promote them and various other important information. Sometimes it's hard keeping track of everything and with this "cheap sheet" it makes life a bit easier. It also shows me how much work I really put into my podcasting. I spent an hour updating several websites that I normally post about the podcast but missed the past six or seven podcasts. After doing all this I actually felt a sense of accomplishment when it came to my podcasts and I haven't felt that in a while... it was good feeling.

At this point it was evening and I did reward myself with a few hours of LOTRO. It was a very productive day. It also showed me that when I want to I can set my mind of one thing and accomplish it without distractions. Just wish I did it more.

Knights of the Guild Ep 48

Download from itunes bit.ly/KotGCast, Listen on Stitcher Radio ow.ly/iXCpg or Listen and gek Direct Download on our main website bit.ly/2CrYxk

Show Notes:

In this episode I sit down with Brett Sheridan (Mr. Wiggly), Vince Caso (Bladezz), Greg Aronowitz (Production Designer), Robin Thorsen (Clara) and Red 5 (Art Director) as we discuss episode one of season six.... Enjoy, ~Kenny~

Family Fun Time / Buffy Bro Time

Today I drove to Riverside to visit my dad, brother, sister-in-law, nephew and niece. But also my Mom who was visiting as well. It takes me about an hour and forty-five minutes to get there. Once I was there Dad, Mom, Kenobi (nephew) were off to Cici's for some lunch. Cici's is a pizza buffet place with games. The food isn't that great but it's $5 for all you can eat and Kenobi had a great time playing games and spending $5 in quarters buying a ton of useless toys from those quarter machines. So it was the perfect place for us to go.

Today Kenobi was all about his uncle (formally known as unk). He held my hand when walking through the parking lot of the pizza place, I played games with him and helped him spend those quarters. We played in the water when we got home. He showed me his new two wheel (with training wheel) bike. Wanted me to play in his extremely hot plastic castle. He wanted me to push him on his swing and he's getting to that stage of everything is a question.. what's that.. what does that say.. why is this... why is that. I'm thinking another six months or so and he'll be ready to come stay with his uncle once in a while. I'm so looking forward to that.

Now Molly on the other hand I haven't really bonded with. She's very stand offish. For the first few months of her life she would see me and cry bloody murder. She at least has stopped doing that. I actually got to pick her up and made her laugh so she is slowly coming around.

It was great seeing my Dad and sister-in-law, my brother didn't get home until a half hour before I left but it was nice seeing him as well. It was really great seeing my Mom. I haven't seen her since before Christmas. She got to check out my new car and take it for a ride.. she really liked it and is considering getting herself one. We got to spend a good five hours together and for us that's a long time.

It was a pretty great visit with family.

Around 5:30pm I said my goodbyes and headed to Mar Vista as it was Buffy night with me buddy Robert. It took about an hour and a half to get to his place with all the traffic. I got to Robert's a little after 7pm. We walked to Taco Bell to grab some dinner. When we got back we started our Buffy rewatch/1st time viewing. We watched 3 episodes tonight  "Doomed",  "A New Man" and "The I In Team"

"Doomed" was a fun episode because when they find out that it's the end of the world again, the gang is so over it. Spike trying to stake himself was pretty funny and Xander and Willow talking him down. Spike also finds out he can beat on demons which makes him very happy. Riley's secret gets out to Willow and Xander. Lot's of story movement in this episode. I also like how the episode literally picks up right where the last episode Hush left off.

"A New Man" was another fun episode, very Giles centric. He's feeling left out of things and pretty useless. We see the return of his "friend" Ethan and of course he's up to no good and turns Giles into a demon and hilarity ensues. Buffy and Riley hook up, Willow feels left out, Buffy meet Professor Walsh and learns more about the initiative. Spike is also very good in this episode as he helps Giles escape from being captured, well for a certain price of $300. We see more Willow and Tara's blossoming relationship and we find out that there is something more to Professor Walsh and the number 314.

"The I In Team" Buffy joins The Initiative and her friends/scoobie gang feel alienated. It's fun to watch Buffy interact with the initiative as they work as a team and Buffy has always done things her way. Spike seeks help from Giles and the gang when the Initiative tag him and are on the hunt. We find out that Professor Walsh is creating some sort of Frankenstein monster / ultimate solider in room 314. She decided that Buffy is a risk and tries to kill her and fails, of course. Riley finds out what she did and walks out of the initiative. Professor Walsh goes in to room 314 and is planning Buffy's demise when a large spike burst out of her chest and you see Adam standing there as he says Mommy. And so the big bad of this season is born.

For some reason the way I remembered it season 4 was my least favorite season of Buffy... but man we are 13 episodes in and though I haven't loved all of them it's been a great season so far. Maybe the final 10 or so will remind me why I have this season so low on my list.. if not I'll have to reevaluate my least favorite Buffy seasons.

Got home around 11pm, played LOTRO for an hour before calling it a night. It was a fun fill day of family and spending time with one of my favorite bros watching one of my favorite shows.

It's All About MASH

Today I was determined to finish my next MASH podcast. It's due to be released in a few days and I wasn't going to let LOTRO distract me any more. I spent the next three hours editing away and got to a point where I couldn't go any further. Since my hard drive died last month and all my podcast material was on it, this included my MASH episodes so I don't have any episode audio to use. I did manage to find an episode online for the last MASH podcast but it had a laugh track and it was so distracting and horrible but I was in a pinch and had to use it. This time around I wasn't going to use the poor audio so I figured I'd go out and purchase season 3 on DVD. First place I looked was Costco, I had heard they had the DVD's for $10, but alas my Costco didn't have any DVD's of any kind. I grabbed a bite to eat from El Pollo Loco before going up the hill to Target. Once again they didn't have any MASH episodes on DVD, not even the box set of the entire series (which I considered getting). My next stop was Walmart but they only had seasons 10 & 11 on DVD. I was starting to worry. I knew I could buy the boxsets online but if I wanted them quick I'd have to pay for faster shipping.

There as one more place to look Best Buy. Again they had seasons 10 & 11 but no 3 :( . I didn't give up that easy I walked up and down each aisle just in case they were in a "special" section and sure enough I found more seasons and one DVD left for season 3. It's regular price was $35 and I didn't really care but this week it was on sale for $9.99... SCORE!!!!

Oh I forgot to mention when I was at Target I picked up a curling iron... no it's not for my hair.. well it is in a way, it's for my Hobbit wig. It needs a good curling and instead of borrowing a curling iron (and so far I couldn't find a friend who had one) I figured I'm going to be cos-playing as a Hobbit (as it's my thing) for a while and will be in need of one every so often.

With DVD in hand I headed home. That little adventure took a few hours and it was now close to 7pm. It took me an hour or so to figure out how to import the episodes off of the DVD without the  laugh tracks but in the end I got the episode imported into the Avid and another few hours my MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 50 was complete.

And to reward myself I played a little LOTRO before going to bed.

I'm Going to Disneyland

Since I'm out of work, one of the first things that popped into my head was "I'm Going to Disneyland". It's been a few months since I went last and since I have an annual pass I like to take advantage of the parks as much as I can.

It just so happen that my long time friend Craig texted me asking if I wanted to go to Disneyland (out of the blue). I texted him back.. saying OMG I was just wanting to go, so we made plans to go today. Craig's brother Ross was also joining us.

We got to the park around 11am, the parking lot made it look alot less busy then it actually was. I figured it was a Monday and that it wouldn't be too bad, well I should have known better.. Disneyland is always busy.

My friend Craig can't walk long distances (medical issues) so he rented a motorized scooter. The upside of being disabled at Disneyland is that you normally don't have to wait in the long lines. That's not so true for Disney California Adventures. Since it's a newer park it's been built for the handicapped so you have to wait in line like everyone else.

Craig and Ross hadn't done DCA yet so that was the first park we went to. We spent half our day there doing Monster Inc ride, Tower of Terror and Screaming. We tried to do the Radiator Spring Racers but the wait was over 90 minutes and neither of the guys wanted to wait that long. We had lunch in that park before heading over to Disneyland. There we were able to jump lines and not have to wait so long. We did Space Mountain, Star Tours, Indian Jones Ride, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean and Matterhorn.

By 8ish Craig was getting tired so we called it a night. We had some dinner across the street at Denny's before making our way home. It was a fun visit to Disneyland and I can't wait to go back again.

It's a LOTRO Kind of Day

I played LOTRO all day today. From the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed. I did mange to eat a bit here and there but it was Lord of the Rings Online play from dawn til dusk and it was glorious!!!

I've never understood how someone could play video games for hours on end, now I do. You honestly don't realize that you are playing a game for that many hours. Your stomach rumbles and you check to the time and realize you've been playing for six hour straight. Or you jump on to play for an hour and seven hours later you can't figure out why the sun is already setting... It's pretty crazy. So I take back all the times I said to my gamer friends "how can you play for that long". Now I get it, now I completely understand.

My biggest hurdle is to not let this take over my life. Playing is fun and releases stress but I still have a house to fix up to sell, podcasts to record, edit and release and most importantly finding a new job. Life can't be put on hold for gaming.. that much I know.. it's just implementing that plan is a bit tougher then I expected.

Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast Ep14

Download from itunes http://bit.ly/itunesAlienNation Listen on Stitcher Radio http://app.stitcher.com/browse/feed/32281/episodes or Listen/ Get Direct Download http://Aliennationpodcast.com

Show Notes

Brothers Kenny and Michael Mittleider review and discuss a short lived but very socially aware TV series from the late 80's early 90's ALIEN NATION. Each podcast we will review a single episode in sequential order starting with the Pilot. Will give you our thoughts on the episode as well as some fun behind the scenes information.

Today we cover Season 1, Episode 14 - Generation To Generation
Directed by John McPherson
Written by Diane Frolov & Andrew Schneider
Original air date January 29th 1990

Plot Summary: A series of murders in which the victims are burned to death is tied to a mysterious Tenctonese box that keeps transferring from person to person. George is shocked to learn that one of the people involved in the killing is Uncle Moodri, who is a member of the Edlers, the Newcomers chosen to keep the old ways alive in the minds of future generations. The search for the box intensifies, with Sikes and George finally coming to understand it's importance to the memory of the Tenctons' home plant.

As a subplot, Sikes becomes a big brother to a youth, first to avoid weekend police duty, and then because he realizes the importance of reaching out to others in need.

Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast is a Geekyfanboy Productions

Hanging with Friends

I was up at 7am and getting in a little LOTRO play before my buddy Rupert arrived. He was coming over to hang out with me for the day. It's been a while since we got to hang out so we arranged to do it today. He arrived around noon and we headed out to lunch. After lunch we went to Target to look around, I had a few things I needed to get.

Once we were back at my place we sat down to watch Les Miserable. I have a screener copy of it and Rupert saw it in the theater and loved it and asked if we could watch it again. I've only seen it once with my buddy Chris out in Montana so I was up for another viewing. The movie ended just in time as we needed to get ready to head out with Anthony and Michele to Dallas' "I got a job" dinner party.

We were to first to arrived at Pitfire Grill out in North Hollywood. They had a table set aside for us so we sat down and waited for others to arrive. Little by little folks showed up until we were a large party of 20. It was great seeing everyone. Some I'd hadn't seen in months, others only a week. We sat around and talked, ate and had a great time until about 10pm. Michele (who is pregnant) was tired and since Rupert and I drove with these guys we had to call it a night. It was alot of fun catching up with folks. Whenever I'm with this group of friends it alway amazes me on how lucky I really am.

Got home around 11pm, said goodbye to Rupert and headed to bed. A very long but enjoyable Saturday.

I want to mention also that today is Greg Aronowitz's Birthday. I met Greg a few years back working on the Guild. He is one of the most talented and creative guys I know. He's friends with the likes of Spielberg and Lucas just to name a few. He's worked on many blockbuster movies and has done so many great things. I can just sit next him and listen to his incredible stories all day. Anyways I wanted to wish him a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY and to say how thankful I am that he is part of my life.

You can check out Greg's FANTASTIC blog HERE.

Rings, Wings & Giants

Got up at 7am and jumped onto LOTRO. I got my new roommate Anthony to join so we started questing together. It's fun playing LOTRO solo but it's so much better when you're part of a fellowship. Because I'm playing more I'm actually understanding the game alot better. I'm understanding "deeds" and "instances" and such. If you read my blog you know I have four characters. I have my main character Drialdo, he's a Hobbit, I have my 1st alt character Kiwyn, she's a human, my 2nd alt character is Gillthilion, he's an elf and my 3rd alt character Arikk and he's a Dwarf. Of course Drialdo is my highest leveled character as I play him the most. I did manage to get Kiwyn up to level 25 and then started working on Gillthilion.

I'm trying to get each one of my characters to at least level 20, so I can buy a stead and travel around faster. I manage to get Gillthilion to level 20 today, which made me super happy. Now it's time to get Arikk my Dwarf to level 20, he's currently level 13 and depending on how much I play it may take me a week or so to do that. Anyways if you want to read more about my LOTRO characters here's a blog post I did back in January.

For the evening my new roommates Anthony and Michele wanted to take me out to dinner as a Thank You. We went to Chili's and had a nice dinner. I of course am a creator of habit so when I find something I like I tend to eat it over and over and Chili's had some great Chicken strips with buffalo wing sauce. Afterwards we headed over to Edwards to watch a movie. We were debating on seeing Jack the Giant Slayer or Oz: The Great and Powerful. We agreed that Jack will be leaving theaters sooner so we should see it now and that's what we did.

If you don't know this movie is here's a brief synopsis: The ancient war between humans and a race of giants is reignited when Jack, a young farmhand fighting for a kingdom and the love of a princess, accidentally opens a gateway between the two worlds.

This movie was shot many years ago and because of behind the scenes drama it took a while for it to be released. The original title was Jack the Giant Killer, there is even a trailer with that title. But I guess Killer didn't test well so it was changed to Slayer.

My Review... As you all know if you are a regular reader of my blog that I'm a HUGE Fantasy lover. I think I like Fantasy more then Science Fiction (if i had to choose, thank goodness I don't have to). So I was looking forward to this movie. Of course it's based on Jack and the Beanstalk. When I left the theater I was satisfied. I thought the movie was good, it has a simply story, great effects and was just a fun adventure ride. Bryan Singer was the director and I have enjoyed all of his work. It had Ewen McGregor, who I adore and he was great in this. I enjoyed the little nods to the original fairytale and they fact that Fee, Fi, Fo and Fum were names of Giants. There were some great laughs and excellent action sequences. I would defiantly watch this again and will be buying it on blu-ray when it comes out. One thing I really enjoyed about the writing/character were the bad guys, they were so bad I was literally annoyed by them and when their end came I was extremely satisfied. I give Jack the Giant Slayer a solid B

Podcasting Vs. LOTRO

Since I started playing Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) I have been struggling with my other hobby, podcasting. I currently have six podcasts, but only three really running at the moment; MASH 4077 Podcast, Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast and Knights of the Guild podcast. Confessions of a Fanboy is still going but I haven't released a new episode since the end of last year. Also My Gimpy Life podcast is on hiatus until a second season of that webseries is announced (if it actually happens) and my sixth podcast The Geek Roundtable has been in the works since October of 2010 but still hasn't seen the light of day.

Anyways I feel like when I do have free time all I want to do is play LOTRO but I have a great group of listeners who enjoy my podcasts and being a podcast listener myself I know how much I hate it when a favorite podcast of mine doesn't come out on a regularly scheduled time table.

So today I forced myself to finish my next Alien Nation podcast as it comes out in 3 days. I still have another MASH podcast to do and would love to get a KOTG and a new Confessions of a Fanboy done. But the call of the game got to me and as soon as I was done with the Alien Nation podcast I told myself that it was good enough and I should reward myself with playing a few hours of LOTRO.

Now I know better, I know when I start playing LOTRO I lose track of time and the next thing I know it's been six, seven, twelve hours but I was weak and didn't care. Of course after playing I'm upset with myself as I didn't get as much work done on podcasts as I would have liked. It's a vicious cycle, but it's tough finding a nice balance between the two hobbies.. and I'm sure I'll continue to struggle with it for the foreseeable future.. wish me luck :)

LOTRO & Buffy

Today was my first official "out of work" day, since being let go. So what better to do then to play Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) all day. I woke up at 8am and started playing. Six hours later I realized that I was hungry and needed to take a break. Time sure flies when you're questing and killing orcs.

I was heading over to Roberts for some Buffy Re-Watch but first I had to stop by my old work to drop off some documents and they surprised me with a cake. It was very nice of them but of course the EP who had me fired acted all kind and sweet. I did find out after I left, that she went around to each person and tried to do some damage control. She found out that I did email everyone the night I was let go and when she said in the meeting the next day that I decided to leave, she was caught in a lie... so stupid!!
 
Anyways.. I headed over to Roberts for some pizza and Buffy re-watch. We're well into Season Four and tonight's episode were The Initiative, Pangs, Something Blue, and  Hush.

The Initiative was better then I remembered, we find out about Riley and the operatives running around the college. We have "neutered" Spike. Lot's of story moments and laughs.

Pangs was kind of like a "monster of the week" episode with a vengeful Native American spirit. Buffy wants to have the perfect Thanksgiving. Once again this episode is full of Joss witting writing and so many laughs.

Something Blue was another great episode, Willow is still upset after the breakup with Oz so she does a spell that, of course, back fires and causes her friends to have a few issues. Giles goes blind, Xander attracts monsters, Buffy and Spike are a couple and start planning their wedding. Lots of laughs and again great character dialogue.

And for our final episode of the night, it's one of my favorites "Hush". I've been waiting to share this episode with Robert since we started. Love this episode, it's creepy, funny and so amazing that two thirds of the episode is done in silence. And it also introduces one of my favorite characters on Buffy.. Tara. 

So we had four great episodes tonight. Lot's of fun and laughs. Can't wait to do this all again next week.

The Next Day

So yesterday I was let go and today they asked if I would come in and show the new guy who was replacing me around. Give him the low down on what's been going on. Of course me being me I say yes. I figured it would also be nice to say goodbye to everyone.  I did emailed the staff last night and informed them that I was let go and that this new guy would be replacing me. I got a lot of very supportive emails in return... that was nice.

When the EP got into work she called a meeting. We all gathered and she began by saying "Well Kenny has decided to leave us." several heads turned to me with the expression of  "I thought they fired you" look. I was shocked and I really don't know why since she's "saving face" by not telling everyone that she's the one who had me fired. Instead all is well as she continue to live in her fairytale land of crazy.

I didn't say anything as I really didn't want start up anything. Several of the employees came to my office later and said.. So when did you quit.. and I said  jokingly I guess it was moments before they fired me. It's hilarious to me that she blatantly lied in front of the entire staff and everyone knew since they got the email I sent out the night before.  Just goes to show you what kind of person she really is.

Anyways I hung out at work most of the day giving the new guy the low down and the great thing is he said from what he's seen I did a fantastic job and he really doesn't see what he's going to be able to do unless they make the changes that I've been saying they need to do since the beginning. But that's no longer my problem and it feels great.

Gonna take the rest of this week off and then begin my job search next Monday.

Wait... What!!!!

So today at 5pm I got an email from one of my bosses asking to come over to the main office to go over the post schedule. We were to meet at 6pm. I left my office and headed over to the main office and got there at 6 on the dot. I walked into his office and we started to talk post schedule. About 5 minutes in he started to talk about the EP and how we are just not meshing well. I knew then that something was up. And sure enough seconds later he said I just think it would be best if we parted ways.

I was being let go, fired. This has only happened one other time in my career. But instead of being sad or upset I was jumping for joy. I would never quit a job, I've only done that once in my career. I just suck it up and push through even though I'm miserable. So being let go is a win win for me. I get out of the hellish job, get away from a very unprofessional and bullying Executive Producer and I get to collect unemployment while I look for another job.

I think my reaction caught him off guard. I think he expect me to be upset and walk out, not smile and be so happy. But it's a relief, I know I did a great job. Everyone I worked with have said that I did a great job with the circumstances that were given to me. The only person who didn't like me was the EP. I didn't burn any bridges with this company. And I don't care if I burned any bridges with the EP as I never plan to work with her again.

After the meeting and he saw that I was in a good mood, he asked if I would talk to the new Post Super, the person replacing me. He seemed like a nice guy and I wish him the best of luck.

They asked if I would come in tomorrow to help settle in the new guy, I said sure. They said they would pay me for the entire week, so that's cool. I don't mind coming in and helping out for the day.. so that's the plan. After tomorrow I'll be unemployed once again. I plan to take the rest of the week off and then start the process of finding another and hopefully more enjoyable job.